Ironman X
by I Hate Allergies
Summary: A few weeks before that fateful day in Afganistan, Tony Stark is assigned a military guard to supplement his own personal guard. Who he chooses shocks many people, though. Updated finally!
1. Gallivanting

"Logan, I know he is a playboy, I'll be fine." Jubilee paused while he talked, filing her nails nonchalantly. "You of all people should know that the army teaches you a little something about self defence." She yawned and eyed her clock which read 12:42. She was sitting cross-legged in her bed wearing nothing but the 'Oh Canada' shirt she stole from Logan, her underwear, and a pair of ankle socks. "Logan it's late. I have to go. I'll be fine. Love you. OK. Uh huh. I'll give him an extra good kick in the balls for you if that happens. Bu-bye Wolvie."

She finally closed her cell phone and snuggled deep down into her extra-big, extra-comfy bed in her extra-big, extra-luxurious bedroom sanctioned to her by a Mister Anthony Stark. Making sure the boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth and then invented a better silver spoon to suck on and his assistant were safe would be a piece of cake.

At 4:36 AM, Jarvis woke her. "Miss Lee, there is an intruder in the west wing of the house."

Her response was immediate. Jubilee grabbed her sunglasses and her hand gun and jogged down the wooden floored hallways silently. She looked around but saw no one at first.

"Mr. Stark is that you?" She asked rubbing the back of her head sleepily. She was suddenly painfully aware of the fact that she only wore Logan's over-sized t-shirt.

"Two minutes 38 seconds. Not bad, Miss Lee." He looked like he had been caught in a wind tunnel.

"Are you drunk?" She sat the gun down on the glass coffee table and walked over to him to help him to his room.

"'Oh Canada?' No. That's very un-patriotic, Private. I won't have it in my house. Take it off." He looked completely serious.

If looks could kill, Anthony Edward Stark would be just a memory. She stopped her tracks, on hand on her hip, the other at her side twitching so she wouldn't shove a handful of white hot plasma into her charge's face. Her face was a combination of anger, shock, and disbelief.

"Well?" Tony asked leaning back into his couch.

Jubilee was about to give into the desperate want to shove a fistful of fireworks into his cocky, egotistical mug but one thing stopped her. Colonel James Rhodes walked into the room, Tony's jacket in his arms. She stood up straight and, looking at something in the distance saluted. "Colonel Rhodes." She said simply.

He saluted as well. "Stand down, Solider. I'll take care of Tony."

Jubilee saluted again and grabbed her gun from off the table. As she walked back towards her room, she vowed to sleep in shorts from then on.


	2. Late Nights

_Sexual Harassment is the finest form of flattery._

"If you're going with me, you're not wearing that," Tony said simply. He was fixing his tie as they were about to leave for the award ceremony.

"Excuse me?" She looked down at her uniform and then looked back up at Tony.

"If you're gonna stay here, there is so many things I want to see you in and out of." He sprayed himself with cologne and turned around as if surprised she was still there. "Well? I took the liberty of supplying you with a few pieces. Size four, I'm guessing. Hop to it, were leaving in 10."

Jubilee rolled her eyes and tried not to hit her boss in the back of the head. She turned on her heel and walked to her room, an angry stomp in her step. Upon arriving to her room, she found a myriad of dresses, most of which were wildly inappropriate. She did however found on that caught her eye. It was a silver tank dress the shimmered in the light and when she put it on, it draped loosely of her small frame. She decided to where a pair of black booties she found near the dresses and silver dangly earrings.

"Come on Jubilee, we haven't got all day," Tony called up on the intercom readjusting his cuff links.

"Ms. Lee is fine, _Mr. _Stark," she replied lightly. She walked to the front door where the limo would picking them up and she heard Tony whistle.

"Wow, you look fantastic. Amazing, even. You army folk clean up nice; if I do say so myself." He opened the door for her.

"Thank you, Mr. Stark. That means a lot coming from you," she replied sarcastically as she walked out of the door.

"It should, Ms. Lee."

Tony got out of the limousine first and there was a barrage of camera flashes and questions. He stuck his hand back in for her and she almost didn't grab it, but thought better of it.

She threw on a dazzling smile as she stepped out of the car, deciding that her stony, unsmiling face would be left at home with her uniform.

Jubilee and Tony were talking quietly smiling all the way into Caesar's Palace and if you were watching from the crowd it would have looked like pleasant conversation, but looks could be deceiving.

"My, my, you know how to work a crowd," he said to her, fake shock in his voice.

"I'm in the Army, Tony, not a robot," she replied, smiling at the cameras.

"You called me Tony. That is wildly inappropriate and I am going to have to rethink my evaluation of you," he said to her.

She couldn't help but think that Tony could get out of anything, especially with that straight face he kept through all of his jokes. "Inappropriate? You mean like the dresses you sent me that were made of lace and fur and sheer cloth? You mean like that kind of inappropriate?"

"Well, I was a hoping to use those after this thing. I mean-"

Jubilee cut him off. Turning around and walking backwards, she called, "Not on your life, Sport," and continued on in.

Tony had been in the casino for hours. He was at the poker table first and won there and when he went to the Roulette and Blackjack tables she had even opted to play a couple of rounds herself, whilst absentmindedly downing the drinks Tony kept handing her. She sobered, however, when Colonel Rhodes came into view.

Tony had just rolled and won 4,000 more dollars when Rhody tapped him on the shoulder. "You are unbelievable," Rhody said, despite this stunt having Tony's name written all over it.

"Oh, don't tell me the roped you into all this," Tony said, rolling dice once more and winning even more money. He was referring to the award ceremony.

"Nobody roped me into anything!" Rhody shot back. "They told me that if I present you with the award, you'd be deeply honored." His slight anger had mostly subsided by now. It was more or less what he expected from Tony nowadays.

"Of course I'd be deeply honored, and it's you that's great," he said, getting ready to roll his last hand. "So when do we do it?"

"It's right here." He pulled the Apogee award out of his jacket and handed it to Tony unceremoniously. "Here you go."

"There it is," he said taking it without a second glance. "That was easy." Rhody just stared at him. "I'm so sorry," he said unapologetically.

"Yeah, it's okay," he replied, knowing he wasn't going to get much more from his friend.

Tony looked at it again, trying to make Rhody laugh a little. "Wow would look at that! I don't have any of these float around." He finally geared up for his last roll. He held up his hand for the nearest model to blow the dice, then motioned towards Jubilee. She stared daggers at him, already pissed for making her look foolish. "I'll take that as a no. How about you?" He put the dice in front of Rhody's face.

"No, oh no, I do not blow on a man's dice." Jubilee couldn't help but snicker at the idea, and Tony eyed her slightly before returning his attention to Rhody.

"Come on, Honey Bear," Tony mock pleaded.

"Tony. Get your hand outta my face-" Rhody pushed Tony's hand out of his face and Tony let the dice go with that push.

Jubilee didn't see what happened next, but it couldn't have been good seeing as they pulled all of Tony's chips away. She walked over to the driver and whispered to him to bring the car around. Straightening her hair and dress, she walked up to Colonel Rhodes, hoping that he wouldn't notice how red in the face she was. She was a bit notorious for how badly she held her liquor.

"Colonel Rhodes, I'm so s-sorry," she apologized, hoping he would mistake her slurs for nervous slips of the tongue. "I would of got him there but casinos don't keep clocks for a rea-" Colonel Rhodes quieted her.

"I don't blame you, Tony can take responsibility for his own irresponsibility." Colonel Rhodes let the oxymoron sink in before he continued. "Just make sure he's on time tomorrow."

Jubilee nodded and walked with Colonel Rhodes to wait in the car for Tony. Five minutes later and Tony was being attacked by some bimbo and Jubilee was pressed to the opposite side of the limo, as far away from the duo as possible. She stared out the window for most of the drive, blanching at the kissing noises coming from the pair.

"You, know, you could join us if you'd like," Tony said, in what he thought was an inviting tone.

Jubilee rolled her eyes. "I'd rather walk," she said angrily, resting her chin on her hand.

Tony stopped the woman from kissing him and buzzed the driver. "Stop the car," He commanded. Jubilee and the woman looked at him, puzzled. "If you'd rather walk, walk."

Jubilee stared at him, open mouthed. He opened the door and made a sweeping gesture towards the door, a controlled look on his face.

Jubilee looked as if she was about to protest but decided against it. Climbing past Tony and the woman who seemed very interested in his neck at the moment, she stepped out onto the black top street and just stood there as the limousine speed away.

Ten minutes in to her trek home, Jubilee had made a plasma ball to light her way along the dark cliff side street. She quickly let it dissipate as she heard a car round the bend that was just in front of her. A midnight blue Rolls Royce stopped and turned around just behind her. It slowed to crawl right next to her, but she ignored it, her arms crossed over her chest in defiance.

The cool brisk air and the walking was enough to bring her out of the buzz she was still feeling from the casino. Her heels had come off thirty minutes into the hike and with the new found balance and soberness, the last half went by smoothly and quickly, the Rolls Royce ghosting slightly behind her now.

After a quick identity check, Jarvis silently let Jubilee into the house. As she walked to her room, she noticed random items of clothes strewn over the floor, no doubt from the over zealous couple, if you could indeed call them that.

Jubilee got in the shower of her private bathroom and contemplated. Sure, Tony Stark was a jerk, but this assignment beat active duty any day. She liked it here, and she could tell there was more to Tony Stark than she knew. She hoped there was more to him, for his sake.

_AN: I'll only know what you think if you tell me!_


	3. Early Flights

_So sorry it took so friggen long. Truth be told, I had this written since before uploading chapter two, its just that I just graduated highschool yesterday, and I've to busy with huge English projects and dissecting fetal pigs in Anatomy to think about anything else. So Sorry!_

Jubilee had to admit to herself that her first week as Tony Stark's Government sanctioned guard had not gone the way she thought it would. He was late, like always, and this was going to look bad more on her than on him. At least, that's what she felt.

Now she was in the passenger seat of his drop top Audi, at 7:23, about two hours after the plane was supposed to leave, tired as all hell, and with an important training meeting at the Los Angeles Base at eleven that day.

Luckily Tony picked up on her mood and decided not to bother her this morning. She was hunched over, leaning on the door with her chin in her hand and her eyes but she really couldn't sleep, not with the three cups of coffee she had just twenty minutes ago. She decided that any amount of silence was better than conversation, where Tony could say something stupid that could bring her closer to popping off the head of the person she was supposed to protect.

Jubilee just sat there, feigning sleep and thinking about how she got into this predicament in the first place.

"_Mr. Stark, whom you see here are twenty strongest, bravest men who were trained specifically to protect you and Miss Potts," Sergeant Robert Drees, said. He was tall, very muscular and had neat white hair on top of his head that was buzzed low._

"_So what makes my guards suddenly incapable, Sarge?" Tony asked crossing his arms over his chest. Pepper Potts stood just behind him, holding a clip board to her chest._

"_I'm sure, your guards are excellent, Mr. Stark, It's just that the Government wants to aid in your protection, since we have such an interest in your survival," the sergeant replied, his hands crossing behind his back._

_Pepper tapped Tony's shoulder and whispered to him. "Tony, just pick someone, okay? I'm sure they mean well."_

"_I can have anyone I choose?" Tony asked, looking at the twenty men in front of him._

"_Anyone you choose," The sergeant affirmed. He looked at Tony expectantly._

"_I choose... her." Tony pointed to the woman that entered his eye sight. She was wearing an army green tank top and green camouflage pants with relatively small combat boots._

_The woman saw him point and started walking toward him when he beckoned her._

"_Whoa, Mr. Stark, I can't let you choose her, she wasn't in the group."_

"_You said I could have anyone." Pepper put her face in her hand and shook her head slightly, embarrassed. "I chose her," he said just as the woman pulled up. "What's your name, soldier?"_

"_Private Lee," she responded somewhat warily._

"_Private Lee, how would you like to be my personal body guard?"_

Jubilee, was jolted from her day dream but the sharpness of Tony turning into the airport. She stretched slightly to finish out her act of fake sleeping before he stopped the car. Colonel Rhodes was waiting at the bottom of the stairs of the plane, a controlled look on his.

Tony took his bags from the driver that had followed behind him. "Your good. I thought I lost you back there."

"You did, Sir," said the driver genially. "I had to cut across Mulholand."

Tony grinned at his driver before walking up to Colonel Rhodes. "What's wrong with you?" Colonel Rhodes asked angrily.

"What?" Tony asked innocently. He handed his bag to one the flight attendants.

"Three hours," Colonel Rhodes said simply. He crossed hims arms angrily.

"I got caught doing a piece for Vanity Fair." Jubilee had to snicker at that one, no matter how peeved off she was.

"For three hours," he said. "For three hours you got me waiting here."

Tony patted him on the chest and ran up the steps in front of him. "We're waiting on you now. Come on. Let's go."

"Have a safe trip, Sirs," Jubilee called out. Her hands were clasped in front of her body as she waited for them to take off.

Tony turned around then lightly tossed his keys to her. "Try not to miss me."

She caught the keys deftly and replied sarcastically, "I'll try."

She watched from the driver's seat of the Audi as the private jet flew off.

She now had a few hours to eat and drive herself to the Los Angeles, by 10:30 AM, even though it started at eleven. It was 8:47 and it would be an hour and a half of driving so she barely had time to get herself a crossain'wich from Burger King so she wouldn't starve through the training exercise.

"'Jubilation Lee, born in Los Angeles, California, raised in upstate New York. Hand chosen by Anthony Stark himself to be his body guard, despite no formal training as such." The man interrogating her, the Secretary of Internal Defense, Leonard McDormand, read her file with a slight edge to his voice.

Jubilee looked around. It was dark except for the harsh bright light in her face. "Am I in some kind of trouble here, Sir?"

"You may be, Private." The secretary sat down in front of her and looked her straight in her eyes. "How do you know Anthony Stark?"

She looked at him, confused. "I'm his guard..." she said slowly. She had now clasped her hands together loosely and put them on the metal table in front of her.

"Did you know Mr. Stark before you were assigned to guard him?" His face was serious, and slightly uninterested, as if he had done this type of thing before. He was reading his questions from the clipboard her file was on.

"No, Sir. The first day I met Mr. Stark, it was the day he chose me." She felt nervous, not because she was guilty of anything, but because she had no idea where this questioning was going.

"Be sure to tell the truth, Private. This will go a lot better for you if you do."

"It's still a 'no,' Sir," she said curtly.

"Why do you think Mr. Stark chose you?"

"Honestly, and not to toot my on horn, per se, I think he chose me because I'm pretty." Then she added, "Mr. Stark has a pretty notorious or successful relationship with women, depending on how you look at it."

"And has Mr. Stark been successful with you?"

Jubilee couldn't help but blush. She could take all the obvious flirting from Tony Stark any day, but had a hard time if people she respected thought less of her because of assumed activities. "No, Sir," she said quickly. "Boundaries are very important to me."

Ten more minutes of questioning was done, before the Secretary left her in that room for nearly an hour. She would have been bored if her mind wasn't reeling. This was not what she expected to happen today.

The secretary finally came back in and he was holding a box about the size of his hand. "Private Lee, you probably don't know this but, when Tony Stark chose you, he jeopardized something very important for this government." They had finally turned on the lights and removed the harsh one from her face. It seemed more relaxed but, Jubilee had a weird feeling."We've decided to let you stay in the army, and on this mission."

"Um..." Jubilee's eyes widened, she had no idea that her job was at stake.

Secretary McDormand ignored her. "The thing is, the government suspects that Stark is not being completely honest."

This was news to her. "What do you mean?"

He ignored her yet again. "The original twenty guardsmen that were preselected were trained in surveillance and told to report and strange or suspicious behavior and write a report about their experience there every week. Since Stark has bypassed those twenty, you now must do it. Any questions so far?"

She looked at him warily. This new objective did not sit with her well. "And how is this any different from spying on an upstanding (she used that term loosely) member of the community?"

"The Patriot Act, Private. And Stark may not be as upstanding as he seems." He did not let her ask anymore questions. "In this box, is a computer so firewalled, even Stark, could not break into it." Jubilee doubted this, but said nothing. "You can type your report on this computer, and send it back to base every week, virtually unknown by Starks systems."

Despite her uneasiness, Jubilee accepted the computer from Secretary McDormand without a word. She opened the box to see a very small keyboard.

"The screen is a hologram projector. You will be expected to send a report every Wednesday, starting as soon as Stark returns. Do you understand?"

"...Yes, Sir."

"Before you go, Private, is there anything you think you should tell me, before you're deep into the mission?"

Jubilee's hands twitched, she hoped unnoticeably. She hadn't told anyone, not soul in that army that she was a mutant. She wasn't supposed to, with Don't Ask Don't Tell. No matter how she looked at the situation it just didn't seem right to her. She went with her gut instinct.

"No... Sir."


	4. Phone Calls

**Fionn the Otaku**: Thanks for the support and complements. I get what you're saying and I understand completely about Jubilee. Hopefully, this chapter explains about why Jubilee joined the army, and hopefully it's enough. And no He is Iron man yet as, I am trying to make this follow the movie as closely as possible. And he doesn't know Logan but he does know about mutants. If he knew Logan, I don't think he would of flirted with Jubilee as much as he did. He would dream of it unless he wanted to be gutted.

**Omgu8mynewt**: Oh you're giving me a big head here, thanks!

**GothChiq80**: Thanks, and this chapter explains all of that, hopefully. And thank you!

**Arich**: Thanks and yep, you'll see a bit of him soon enough. And this chapter explains how our favorite firecracker got tamed, so to speak.

**Lady Shadowfire**: Thanks. Personally, I love writing them interacting. And hopefully you will see more. I don't have the greatest track record for finishing multi-chapter fics, but there is something special about this one. First of all, I have a pretty set plot since it's directly based of the Ironman movie and I already know how it's going to end.

**Midwich Cuckoo**: I will do my very best. :D

**BrightStar**: I'm not so sure about the pairing anymore either. The story will continue but I doubt if there will be a romance between Jubes and Tony, especially if I'm trying to stay true to the script. I'm glad you like me putting in direct lines from the movie, too. Some people like it; some people call it lazy writing. :P Anyway, the only reason I continued to write this story was for that scene right there. I wrote out a few chapters before I posted it but didn't like it so I abandoned it. Coming back a read that scene and said "No, this is great. It has to be seen." So I rewrote and posted it just so people could see that.

**BitchAmI**: Updated! And she needs a gun because she's trying to hide her abilities for as long as possible.

A/N: _Wow it's been months. Sorry for the wait. College is going OK, if you're wondering. _

Jubilee dialed Logan's cell phone number. _Logan's cell. Leave a message. _It beeped. She hung up the phone and called the Mansion, something she didn't do too often. She really wanted to talk to 'her Wolvie' since she was forced into this act of spying but he wasn't the easiest to get ahold of sometimes. Logan, Gambit and Storm were the only X-men that she contacted regularly. There was still some bitter blood between her and the others after they had said there was no place for her the X-men team. They had said if she went to college and got a degree, she could come back to teach if she wanted.

She didn't want. Realizing that she wasn't valuable enough to be on the X-men team was like a slap in the face and the only people to stand up for her strength were Logan, Ororo, Gambit and Emma Frost, though she had a falling out with the Ice Queen not much later. She supposed it was childish for her not to talk them because they felt like she wasn't powerful enough, but they'd ruined her; then left her to fend for herself in the real world.

How many people can say that they've been close to the brink of death, tortured mercilessly and into outer space and other planets, all by the time they were 18 years old? Herself and maybe Kitty Pryde, that's who. All she knew how to do was fight crime. She couldn't function otherwise. And they expected her to just up go to college, get a degree in basket-weaving and have little to do with the mutant side of the school. No. It was almost like she was physically incapable. She just up and left, leaving nothing but a hastily scribbled '_Screw You, X-men,' _on the front door of the mansion.

Soon after that she joined the army, somehow successfully avoiding detection as a mutant. She hated the early mornings and all the rules, but she couldn't just be a civilian. Plus, they let her eat all that she wanted. She was a good soldier and passed all the physical and mental tests with ease, but she was small. She was 5'7" and a half, only shorter than her mentor by a hair, and only 135 pounds. They just wanted her to bulk up more, so she got to keep a bag of her favorite candy in her bunk.

Honestly, she didn't think she would last but she got constant support from Ororo, Gambit and Wolverine; and from the other X-men, too, when Ororo forced her to talk to them and be genial about it. Her animosity toward the X-men lessened over the following six years, but she knew it would never be the same, even if they welcomed her back with open arms.

The first time she had stepped in the Mansion since she left was the previous Christmas. Everyone was congratulating and telling her proud they were. Beast and Bobby Drake were the only people that were not a part of her trusted three to make her genuinely smile the whole visit. ("Hey kid, I didn't think you'd make it past basic training with you being a lazy-ass and all.") The rest of her interactions had been thinly veiled awkwardness.

And jealously. Honestly, she was mostly happy and proud with what her life had become, but there was still a longing to belong there. She looked at Jono, Paige, Monet and Everett; the only three from Generation X to be invited to be X-men. Jono always seemed sulky, understandably, and Paige usually felt slightly depressed about Jono, but Monet and Everett seemed happy at least. She was jealous of their life that she'd never have with the X-men; not to mention that the two were married. She knew she didn't like Everett anymore, but there was always that sense of what if, even if he never returned her feelings.

That visit returned some of the bitterness she had, and after New Year's, her calls had become infrequent again. They only started back up again in late March, at the urging of Ororo.

She had recently called them with the news that she had started her job as an armed private guard a little over a week ago, so a call this soon would probably surprise whoever answered.

Someone picked up by the fifth ring. "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. This is Dr. McCoy Speaking. How may I help you?" Jubilee smiled at the familiar voice. He was one the X-men that voted her down to join, but she couldn't really stay mad at the loveable beast, even though she still didn't talk to him much. She was also happy that it wasn't Scott. She didn't hate the guy like Wolverine, but her personality and his just didn't fit together well. It would probably be better, now that she'd learned some self-control from the military; but honestly, she didn't care enough to try at the moment.

"Hello, Beast. It's me Jubilee," she said, not feigning the friendly tone of her voice. "How are you?"

He paused just a little too long. Probably worried that something was wrong; which he wasn't very wrong about. "Jubilee, it's nice to hear from you. I'm fine. And yourself?"

"I'm good, too." She really did love Hank, but she wasn't just calling to be social. "Listen. I actually called because I'm looking for Logan. I called his cell phone but he didn't answer. Is he there?" She crossed her fingers.

"I'm afraid not, My Dear. He took off on that blasted motorcycle of his not to long after you called last. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to talk to him is all. If he comes back tell him I called, K?"

"Alright, Jubilee," Hank said with a sigh. "You just be careful and behave yourself, ok?"

The corner of her mouth lifted at that. "And you do the same, Beast. And tell everyone I said hello."

"Will do. Goodbye, Jubilation." He said, only slightly reluctant.

Jubilee held her cell phone to her chest tightly, before deciding what to do next. She dialed Logan's number again but this time it went straight voicemail. _Logan's Cell. Leave a message._

Jubilee audibly sighed. "Hey, Wolvie, It's me, Jubes. I tried to call you earlier but I didn't get an answer. There is something important I wanted to talk to you about so when you get this, could you call me back?" She had nothing else to say she pushed the off button and tossed her cell on her bed. Glancing at her clock, it read 4:21. All that caffeine she drank had worn off and it hit her like a ton of bricks. She jumped face-down on her bed and slept almost instantly.

The sun streamed through the window onto her bed room floor. She glanced groggily at her clock. 11:34. She had slept for forever, it seemed like. It took her a minute to realize that Jarvis had woken her up with his gentle voice.

"Ms. Lee there is an unidentified man knocking at the door. Would you like me to call the police?" She yawned and rubbed her eyes, sitting up sleepily. She was rapidly becoming more aware though, sleeping for 21 hours made it hard to be sleepy.

"Bring up the video feed," she commanded. He did and she immediately recognized the man on the screen. "No, don't call the police. He's friendly."

She bounded towards the front door, still partly in her uniform. The large, thick red oak of the door deceived one of its sophistication. There was a camera in the peep hole and it could open by itself, if commanded, among other things, Jubilee halfway listened to during the tour.

She opened the door quickly, smiling at her guest. "Wolvie!" She enveloped him in a hug before anything else could be said.

A/N: _Long and kind of uneventful, but hopefully it kind of answered some questions. Review! I'll be answering them at the beginning of the chapters from now on. If you're wondering, she was denied to be an X-man after Gen-x was shut down, but I took out most of the death because I don't like sad. Instead of moving back to Cali with Angelo, I decided to have her replace that sense of team and worth by joining the army. And despite it not being very Jubilee, people do change. Also it's my 18__th__ birthday next Tuesday! And my party is Harry Potter themed, because I'm cool like that!_


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